Water vendor killed in Whitestone car crash

A man died Monday after a car hit him while he was selling water in Whitestone.

One man is dead and two injured after a car jumped the curb on the Whitestone Expressway Monday afternoon.

Michael Munoz, 42, a water vendor, was hit and killed when a 78-year old male driver of a dark Toyota Camry lost control of the vehicle and rushed up on the sidewalk in front of the E-ZPass building in Whitestone around 2:15 p.m., cops said.

Munoz’s skull was split open and blood ran from his head, nose and mouth on the ground, witnesses said. The elderly driver and an aged female passenger suffered minor injuries and were transported to New York Hospital Queens, police said.

Munoz had been staying at Extended Stay America, a hotel next to the E-ZPass building, for about four years with his father, hotel workers said. He sells water and Gatorade to drivers that stop near the expressway service road. He would stand on the sidewalk and wait for people to wave him over when they stopped at the light.

Friends and hotel workers said he was in between jobs, but started vending the drinks a few months ago.

“He was very friendly, funny and talkative,” said Maria Stefanidis, a worker at Extended Stay America who frequently spoke with Munoz. “I’m still in shock. I feel really bad for his father.”